Report: Federal utility edited 3rd-party nuke plant reviews

The nation’s largest public utility suppressed some negative findings about the work environment at one of its nuclear plants in Tennessee, according to a report ordered by the agency’s inspector general.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/2qgBtvI ) that Tennessee Valley Authority’s inspector general hired a consultant to review the work environment at the Watts Bar nuclear plant following concerns brought up in March 2016 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC found that employees feared harassment, intimidation and retaliation for raising safety concerns at the plant.

The NTD Consulting Group said in its report that managers told investigators that some findings were left out of reports for fear a second reactor would not get licensed. The plant is located near Spring City, Tennessee.

In 2015, a confidential informant’s tip about the plant’s work environment triggered an investigation by two consultants, who were told what to include and exclude in their reports, according to the NTD Consulting Group’s review.

TVA was not “appropriately self-critical” while looking at the plant’s work culture, according to NTD.